After obliterating the Saint Louis Arch Bishops 3.5-0.5 the
Chicago Blaze are proving themselves to be one of the strongest USCL teams in
history. The Blaze are now 5-0 with no sign of slowing down. The San Francisco Mechanics moved to second place in the
Western division after tying with the Seattle Sluggers, 2-2. The Los Angeles
Vibe are now tied for third place with the Dallas Destiny after defeating the
Destiny 3.5-0.5. GM Melikset Khachiyan scored the first crucial win of the
match against GM Cristian Chirila. The Arizona Scorpions got past the Miami
Sharks 2.5-1.5 thanks to a powerful attacking game by IM Mackenzie Molner over
3-time league MVP GM Julio Becerra.

In the Eastern division, the Philadelphia Inventors
steamrolled the Baltimore Kingfishers 3.5-0.5 to take the division lead away
from the New York Knights, thanks to a better tiebreak score. Meanwhile the New
York Knights were held to a tie by the Manhattan Applesauce, who are now in
clear third place. Despite a terrible start, the New England Nor'easters were
able to up their spirits a bit with a big 3.5-0.5 win over their rivals, the
Boston Blitz. The key game in that matchup was GM Sam Shankland's win over the
league MVP leader SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun. Lastly, the New Jersey Knockouts and
Carolina Cobras tied their match. Currently Baltimore, Boston, and Carolina are
fighting for the last playoff spot.

I found all the games in this match really interesting,
especially Vovsha-Krush.

Also the following position deserves a second and
third and even fourth glance:

Shaun Smith (MAN) - NM Ben Gershenov (NY) after 14...Qf3!
Taking the queen leads to mate in two. Without this move the queen
would have been trapped on a3, so Gershenov must have found this continuation a
few moves earlier.

20.Nf5!!
Putting a second piece en prise, the only move that gives White
a decisive advantage. (Hide Solution)

20...fxg5
(20...exf5 21.Nxd5 Qc6 22.Rhe1+-;
20...b4 21.Nxd5! exd5 22.Nxe7 Kxe7 23.Qxd5+-)
21.Nxe7 Kxe7 22.Qxd5!
Again
without this move White would be clearly better but by no means winning.
22...Qc6
23.Qxg5+.
White has a crushing attack and is completely winning.Although
IM Molner missed some decisive blows to end the game quickly he displayed
some great attacking play and was able to convert with relative ease. 1-0For more blogs and this week's line-ups and matches, go to the US Chess League homepage. Watch live games on Monday and Wednesday night on the Internet Chess Club. Kostya Kavutskiy will
also be posting weekly recaps from his team's perspective atthelavibe.blogspot.com.